Takedown rifles are long guns designed for easy disassembly to reduce their length, thus making them easier to store and transport. Numerous barrels, stocks, and receivers have been developed to facilitate takedown.
Ruger® 10/22® rifles manufactured by Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc. of Southport, Conn. are one of the most popular rifles ever produced. A takedown version of the 10/22® was introduced in 2012. The takedown version enables the barrel to be easily separated from the action and stock by pushing a recessed lever, twisting the barrel relative to the action, and pulling them apart. The standard barrel length is 18 inch, and a shorter 16.12 inch variant is also available. The standard non-takedown version of the rifle has a barrel length of 20 inch.
A disadvantage of the takedown version of the 10/22® is the lack of a storage location in the stock for the barrel. The U.S. Survival AR-7 rifle manufactured by Henry Repeating Arms Co. of Bayonne, N.J. overcomes this difficulty by enabling storage of the barrel, the receiver, and two eight-round magazines within the stock. However, the U.S. Survival AR-7 rifle is limited to a barrel length of 16.1 inch so the barrel will completely fit within the stock.
Neither of these prior art takedown rifles offer a folding stock, although third-party folding stocks for the 10/22® takedown version exist. Furthermore, both require the use of the original equipment manufacturer's barrel to retain their takedown capability unless the original stock is also replaced along with the barrel. Finally, both utilize shorter barrels than may be desired by the user, or a user who already has a standard 10/22® rifle who would like to convert it to a takedown rifle.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved folding stock with barrel toggle clamp that converts a conventional rifle to a takedown rifle. In this regard, the various embodiments of the present invention substantially fulfill at least some of these needs. In this respect, the folding stock with barrel toggle clamp according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of converting a conventional rifle to a takedown rifle.